Thursday, June 19, 2014

Yesterday, June 18, 2014, Senate Bill A8790A-2013 passed in the Senate. This bill was supported by Senator Avella and puts a two year moratorium on the slaughter of mute swans in New York State. It also will make the DEC prove their claims that the mute swans are a menace in their state. Please, everyone who receives this and lives in Michigan, thousands and thousands of mute swans have been and are being killed everyday. We tried in 2011 to get Senator Kowall to do what Senator Avella has done. He made promises then bailed on us. Needless to say he won't be getting my vote. Anyway, please reach out to your state representative or state senator and ask them to do what Senator Avella has done. Tell them our DNR has no Michigan studies that prove their claims about the SAV, Human conflicts, and disrupting native waterfowl, like geese, which the DNR round up in June and take to game areas to be hunted. The DNR needs to show Michigan proof of their claims. Find your state rep by clicking link: http://www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/ or state senator: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/FindYourSenator/byaddress.htm

I have been in touch with Representative Kesto. He knows what the DNR is doing. If you live in Commerce Twp, West Bloomfield, Wixom, or the Village of Wolverine Lake, please contact him and ask him to do the right thing and support a bill that will put a moratorium on mute swan killings in Michigan. Make the DNR prove their claims. Make them produce their Michigan studies. We have over 11,000 inland lakes. Maryland has ZERO! His info is: http://gophouse.org/representatives/southeast/kesto/contactkesto/Representative MacMasters was also in talks with us, if you live in his district: Antrim, Otsego, Charlevoix, Montmorency and Oscoda counties, please contact him: http://gophouse.org/representatives/northernmi/macmaster/contactmacmaster/Please reach out to these officials or the killing will continue and our future generations will never see a mute swan in Michigan. For those of you in other states, please find out what the swan management plan is in your state. For those of you out of the country, please write your papers or these representatives and tell them what a disgrace the US gov't is for allowing our mute swans to be slaughtered without any true studies to back their claims. Thank You!!!Sincerely, Karen Stamper

Thursday, June 5, 2014

After a stealth Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup, paid for
with tax dollars, 37 wild horses were sold to a Canadian slaughterhouse.

The heritage herd had been on the range for generations but the State
of Wyoming didn't want them roaming free on public land anymore so they
called in the BLM to round them up.

In March the herd was chased by helicopters and rounded up at
taxpayer expense, handed over to the Wyoming Livestock Board and sold at
auction to a Canadian slaughterhouse for $40 a piece. 23 herd members
over the age of 2 were slaughtered to be eaten abroad before we got
involved.

I'm grateful Mark Boone Junior and I were able to secure all 14
youngsters ages 8 months to 2-years-old and get them out before they
were slaughtered too. We call them the WY14. Sadly all their mamas were
butchered at the Canadian slaughterhouse shortly after the clandestine
roundup.

On Memorial Day weekend we transported the WY14 out of the Montana
feedlot to Wynema Ranch, in California near Reno where they will stay
temporarily until they move down to the San Francisco Bay Area.

While at Wynema, Protect Mustangs pays for all their hay and these
youngsters need to eat a lot. Right now the orphans eat about 3 bales a
day. We need your help to feed the 14 survivors. We have started a
fundraiser here: http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag Please share it with
your friends and family so we can raise the money for hay to help the
victims of the roundup.

Grass hay locally is $17.50 for a 100 pound bale, if we buy it in 2
ton loads--otherwise it is $20 a bale at the feed store plus the gas to
pick it up. We would like to buy grass hay by the ton to stretch
dollars. One month of hay delivered costs about $1850. Once the WY14
move to the Greater Bay Area, the heritage herd will need hay until we
can find irrigated pasture for them. Please make a donation today to
help feed the young wild horses who have lost their freedom and their
families but have survived the horrors: http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag

For more information about the plight of the WY14 visit
www.ProtectMustangs.org We are a California nonprofit. While we are
applying for our 501c3, donations are retroactive, but even so, for this
Hay Drive we are under The Wild Horse & Burro Fund which is part of
the Andean Tapir Fund--an established 501c3 so your donations are
tax-deductible right now. All donations go directly toward buying hay
minus the fund-raising widget fee (4.5%).

Please help by making a donation for hay right here:
http://www.gofundme.com/9xcfag These 14 little orphans are skinny and
need good quality hay to grow strong. Every dollar goes to nurture and
feed them so they can heal from the trauma of the roundup and the loss
of their families.

The WY14 know people care about them. They felt everyone's prayers to
find them before it was too late. Now they are counting on us all to
come together and buy hay so they can grow strong and have the best
chance at a new life. Please share this email with your friends and
family because it takes a village. . .